Banana and cardamom cake with caramel sauce

ingredients

• Banana and cardamom cake

  • 2/3 cup sultanas, covered and soaked for 10 minutes in boiling water
  • 150 gram butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
  • 2 large_piece eggs
  • 2 cup wholemeal or buckwheat flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 3 ripe bananas, chopped
  • 1/4 cup milk

• Caramel sauce

  • 50 gram butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoon water
  • 50 millilitre cream or coconut milk

• To serve

  • 2 bananas, to serve

method

• Banana and cardamom cake

  • 1

    Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 22cm square cake tin. Drain sultanas, reserving the liquid.

  • 2

    In a large bowl, beat the butter and honey until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.

  • 3

    Stir in the dry ingredients and add the chopped banana. Mix but don’t overmix. If the batter seems too stiff, add up to ¼ cup milk to loosen it to a reluctant dropping consistency.

  • 4

    Scrape the batter into your prepared cake tin and cook for 45-60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

  • 5

    Leave to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack.

• Caramel sauce

  • 1

    To make the syrup, melt butter, sugar and water in a small saucepan, then bring to a rapid simmer.

  • 2

    Cook for 10 minutes until it starts to thicken, then add the cream and stir to combine.

• To serve

  • 1

    Serve squares of warm cake, topped with fresh banana and drizzled in sauce.

notes

By chopping the bananas rather than mashing them, you get lovely moist clumps of the fruit in the finished cake.